Further investments in Panna-Mukta, Tapti oil and gas fields

Tuesday, 04 March 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Joint venture partners of Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields off India's west coast have reached an agreement on joint operations and decided to invest $700 million more in further development of the producing fields. "An integrated joint operating framework has been agreed with partners Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to oversee the operations of the Panna-Mukta oil and gas fields and the Tapti gas field," integrated British gas major BG Group plc announced Monday. With this a long dispute over the management of one of India's top producing fields has been resolved. Problems had surfaced over management of the three fields when BG Group in November 2001 acquired the 30 percent stake from bankrupt Enron Corporation for $388 million and took over as operator, despite objections from the other partners. State-owned exploration major ONGC holds 40 percent stake and Reliance the remaining 30 percent. "The proposed framework, which is subject to government approval, will involve conducting all operations through a three-member operator board," a BG Group statement said. The operator board will comprise representatives from each company and will draw upon the respective partners' strengths. Chairmanship of the board will rotate on a two-year term. "We look forward to working closely with our joint venture partners to continue the successful operation of these fields," said Nigel Shaw, vice president of BG India. "The partners look forward to progressing further development and expansion of the fields and expect to invest approximately $700 million over the next few years. A priority will be to maintain field production and expand output from the Tapti gas field," said Shaw. The partners would be seeking government approval for this additional development work in due course, he added. The Panna-Mukta fields have estimated recoverable reserves of 184 million barrels of oil and oil equivalent in gas, and the Tapti gas field has reserves of 96.3 million cubic meters of gas. The three fields currently have gas production of 7.5 million metric standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD), contributing significantly to India's annual production of 65 MMSCMD as against a demand of 119 MMSCMD.
Source: IANS
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